1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to alpine ski shoes or boots, and to other types of shoes, such as certain types of ice hockey shoes. More particularly the present invention relates to shoes or boots of the type in which the foot is inserted into the shoe or boot from the rear and which allow for insertion of the foot and closure in a manner which is at least partially automatic.
2. Description of Background Information
Ski boots presently on the market are the product of years of research into facilitating insertion and removal of the foot into the shoe or boot while at the same time preserving the ease of manipulation of the boot during closure and opening, and maintaining the effectiveness of the boot during skiing. As a result of this research, shoelaces were slowly replac ed by buckle closures. At first, a plurality of buckles (generally four or five) were distributed along the length of the top of the boot. With the evolution of the closure technology and shoe concepts, the number of buckle closures slowly diminished so that only a single buckle closure was used. This occurred because the use of a single closure was particularly well adapted to shoes of the rear entry type. As a result, numerous boots having such a single closure element appeared on the present market, such as that described in French Pat. No. 2,275,166 for example.
However, these single closures have a serious of disadvantage. Individual closures are adapted to surround the perimeter of the lower leg of the skier, but require additional hand manipulation by the skier to obtain closure of the boot. Although the manipulation of a single tightening and closure apparatus requires less effort than other types of closure apparatus, single closures still require a considerable manual effort by the skier, which can be difficult, particularly for women and children who cannot manipulate this type of closure as easily as might be desired. As a result, certain manufacturers attempted to further improve the closure/opening function of ski boots to render them more confortable to use.
These improvements, which have been made essentially to rear entry tape ski boots having a rear spoiler adapted to pivot toward and away from a front cuff, all include a single double action closure and tightening lever, journalled on the rear spoiler. The double action closure and tightening lever cooperates with one end of two cables which are connected at their other end to a portion of the front cuff. A tightening force exerted on the double action lever causes traction of the two cables, which thus brings together the rear spoiler and the front portion or cuff of the upper. In addition traction experienced by the two cables also tightens the boot on the lower leg when the double action lever is completely pivoted beyond the dead point of an elbow joint formed, respectively, by a return corner positioned on the rear spoiler, the journal axis of the double lever and the point (or the points) of attachment of the cables on the lever.
There are a variety of such boots that are manufactured, each using a different type of the double action lever. According to one type of boot, the lever comprises a double-armed rocking lever or balance arm whose journal axis is positioned 2/10 of the length of the balance arm from one end thereof, while the two cables are hooked, respectively, at each of the ends of the arms of the lever. When the skier wishes to close and tighten the boot, he exerts a downward force on the longest arm of the lever, which serves to simultaneously apply a downward traction on an upper cable and an upward traction on a lower cable. As a result, the rear movable portion of the front movable portion of the upper and the journalled rear spoiler are brought together. Such a boot is an improvement to the extent that it requires only a single closure and tightening manipulation of the boot by the skier. However, this boot requires the use of complicated cable circuits, and requires the skier to apply a strong closure force which is entirely beyond the ability of children and women.
According to another type of boot, the double lever comprises a first lever journalled directly on the rear spoiler and a second lever journalled at the median portion of the first lever. The two linkage cables are then hooked to the second lever at two points slightly spaced from one another, such that the difference of the cable lengths placed at different levels on the upper can be absorbed during the closure. In this type of boot, as in the other type of boot, the complexity of the construction detracts considerably from the attempted improvement of having only a single closure manipulation because it results in a very elevated cost of manufacture.
Thus, there is a need for a rear-entry boot that opens and closes automatically without the necessity of any strenuous manual manipulation by the user, and which is constructed simply and is inexpensive to manufacture.